Captain, Crew Combine To Find A Better Course

MARCIA HEROUX POUNDS BUSINESS STRATEGIES

On this day of thanks, I like to remind business owners and managers to thank their employees. Too often managers focus on work that needs to get done and not on employees' accomplishments.

This attitude of recognition is reflected in the management philosophy of Michael Abrashoff, former captain of the USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer, who related the management overhaul on his Navy ship in his book, It's Your Ship.

"I decided I had to put myself in the shoes of my crew and view it through their eyes," Abrashoff explained in a recent videoconference at Nova Southeastern University.

Abrashoff began with the premise that "the crew's insights might be more profound than the captain's."

Bucking Navy tradition -- and sometimes regulations, Abrashoff decided to operate differently than most commanders. First, he sat down with each of his 300-plus crew members and interviewed them.

Abrashoff asked them questions such as, "What do you like most about Benfold? What do you like least? How would you change it?"

He found out that about 50 percent of his crew had enlisted because their families could not afford to send them to college. Some of his crew members had never even considered going to college.

Abrashoff changed that thinking by having an SAT administrator fly over to his ship in the Persian Gulf to give crew members the college entrance test. One woman scored 1470, a score high enough to get into an Ivy League college. Moreover, sailors began taking college classes via CD-ROM.

That encouraged some of them to also take Navy advancement tests. Soon Benfold had a promotion rate two and a half times the Navy average, Abrashoff writes in his book.

Abrashoff worked to create a climate of trust aboard his ship. He held feedback sessions with his crew, encouraging anyone to challenge or criticize him or other higher-ups. People began speaking up when they saw that even the captain was opening himself up to criticism.

One sailor pointed out that the Benfold is painted six times a year because of rusty metal; he suggested the metal be switched out for stainless steel and the painting was reduced to every 10 months.

Another sailor spotted a Gore-Tex blue jacket with reflective stripes in a civilian store that had a built-in floatation device. The jacket cost $90 compared with the $150 Navy standard issue for foul weather. So Abrashoff used the Navy's "Visa card" to buy the jackets for his entire crew.

When another ship's crew noticed the jackets, Abrashoff was sent a message from a senior officer ordering the crew to stop wearing them. "Why don't you buy them for your crew?" was Abrashoff's response. But the officer thought his crew would steal the jackets.

Abrashoff refused to obey the officer's order, offering to accept a court-martial. Although that may have been an overreaction to the situation, Abrashoff admits, he felt it important to support his crew's decisions.

The message he was sending to his crew was: "It's your ship. Take responsibility."

At the same time, Abrashoff recognized that his hard-working crew needed time to rejuvenate. He took a sailor's suggestion to buy a stereo system so the crew could gather on the helicopter deck and listen to jazz. Another requested cigars. Thursday night soon became "Jazz & Cigar" night on Benfold.

The captain also knew food was important to crew morale. He ordered buyers to start considering quality over price. He even sent cooks to culinary school to improve their skills. Benfold soon became known as having the best food in the Navy, he says.

Abrashoff left Benfold in 1999, but the work he began filtered throughout the Navy.

"Once an issue becomes important to senior management, it becomes important down the chain of command," Abrashoff writes. "All because leaders do what they are paid to do -- lead."

Marcia Heroux Pounds can be reached at mpounds@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6650.